Biggest Hurdles For 2015

College football is a year-round focus for me.  I can usually focus on other sports for a few weeks at a time before drifting back to football.  Now that the Reds are officially lousy, I have every excuse to kick it into high gear with football talk.

Don’t know if you saw the article this morning from GoBearcats.com, but they gave some great hype for Gunner.  Dan Hoard wrote that there is “No summer vacation for Kiel“.  If you think being a college football fan is a year-round gig then just imagine what its like to play.  Hoard’s report shows that the Bearcats are very deep this year at RB and WR and Kiel is looking better than ever.  Most would conclude that the Bearcats are set to breeze through the conference schedule this year and claim a decent bowl bid.

Not so fast.

We have had two promising teams against a sub-par conference in the Tuberville era.  In those two years we’ve seen a pitiful record against P5 opponents, one big conference game blunder per year, and two pathetic bowl game performances.  What needs to change this year in order for the Bearcats to take it to the next level?  I have a couple theories:

Eddie Gran – I know for most fans its sacrilege to question our offensive coordinator after finishing last year 13th in the country for passing yards.  However, I think there is a LOT of room to grow.  I can’t remember very many drives in the last two years that showed an even-paced and steady drive down the field.  Gran’s offense looks much more like trying to light wet gun powder.  On most drives we either sputter out quickly and punt or we make a huge break-away play.  Perhaps there is a reason that the 27-year coaching veteran has never made the jump to coordinator before.  What I want to see from him this year is the ability to string together a nice drive, control the clock, and give our beleaguered defense a rest.  It doesn’t do much good to score a quick touchdown if it means that your defense has to stay on the field for the majority of the game.

Defense – This is the factor that most people would have jumped to first.  Our defense has obviously been weak especially given that Tuberville is thought by most to be a “defensively-minded guy”.  Last year we came in 96th in overall defense.  Recruiting has gotten more difficult since the collapse of the Big East.  All signs point to a much improved defense this year and I think the last two seasons reflect the quality (or lack thereof) Butch Jones’ recruiting.  This year is when we’ll start seeing some Tuberville defensive recruits take the field and we’ll see whats what.  Hank Hughes has a lot to prove, we brought him here for his recruiting and so far he has had a good showing although we really need to see those players on the field now.

Fan Support – Despite living in St. Louis I was able to make it back to Cincy for a game last season (I’m planning even more this season).  The fan support was pitiful.  I went to the ECU game which was arguably the most important conference game of the season and the highest rank opponent in the conference (#AACproblems).  The stands were virtually empty and it was a great game.  Our players, our coach, our school, and the city of Cincinnati deserve a better homefield advantage than what we’ve given them.  If you’re a superfan (likely the case if you’re reading an article about college football in May), then make sure that you hype this program!  Its not enough just to show up to games.  Buy an SUV, fill it with people and tailgate before the game if you have to!  Not only will our chances of winning go up if we sellout every game this year, but there might be a bigger conference or two who takes interest in the program.

Those are my two cents, what say you?  Will we finally put it all together this year or will one of these factors serve once again as our achilles heel?